Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
The thing is, Sawyer looks like he wants to take me up on that. But he heaves a sigh before shaking his head. “No. That’s not how we do it.”
“I guess you were trying to protect Allie now,” Levi murmurs.
Calder keeps his mouth shut, but there’s a whole verbal takedown going on behind his eyes. This isn’t the end of the conversation.
I’m right. “You go back to my place, let Allie know everything’s fine,” he tells our brothers, never taking his eyes off me. “I’ll be behind you.”
Here we go. I brace myself, chin lifted, waiting for the inevitable as my brothers walk away. They’re muttering to each other, glancing over their shoulders in case I could forget how they resent me right now.
Calder returns his rifle to his truck before turning to me with his hands jammed into his pockets. “So this is what you wanted me to back you up on? This is what you’ve been doing?”
“Yeah. It is.”
“You should’ve told me.”
“What would that have changed?”
“I would’ve known what to expect, for starters.” He blows out a breath and shrugs. “You’re talking about covering up the murder of a pretty powerful person. You brought this to our doorstep.”
“I didn’t do anything like that. Do you always have to be so fucking dramatic?”
“You might want to be a little more careful with the things you say, all things considered.”
“Look, I made a judgment call with the cover-up, and I can’t take it back now. But I saw her,” I tell him. The memory turns my stomach. “And I saw what he did to her. She was protecting herself.”
“This is about her, too, isn’t it? Don’t act like you don’t know what I mean,” he warns before I can lie and tell him he’s wrong. “Because I would’ve done the same thing for Saint.”
“This isn’t like you and Saint.”
“Whatever you say.” He looks over his shoulder like he’s making sure we’re alone. “But if we are going to war with Emma Porter over you and her daughter, then you’d better be sure this is what you want.”
I stare at him and take a deep breath. It is what I want, but Allie and I haven’t exactly settled on anything yet, so I don’t respond.
“I’m going back to the house now.” Calder goes to his truck. “Just do me a favor? Let me know before you make any other big moves. And for God’s sake, keep your head down. We don’t need any more complications right now.”
It isn’t easy to keep my mouth shut. He always knows just what to say to get under my skin. “I’ll try not to fuck anything up,” I promise.
“Don’t put words in my mouth.” He gets behind the wheel but pauses before closing the door. When he turns to me, he adds, “For what it’s worth, I would’ve done the same thing.” Then he shuts the door and pulls the truck around, steering it toward home.
I might have to write this down for posterity. It needs to be documented. Calder Bishop admitted he would’ve done the same thing I did.
Pulling out my burner from the passenger seat of the truck, I call Allie. “The boys there yet?”
“They just got here. They said everything’s okay.” Her voice is weak with relief. “Thank you. I didn’t know what to do.”
“Everything’s taken care of.” Do I know for sure that’s true? No. I’ll have to make it true. “You can go home whenever you’re ready. I’ll meet you there as soon as I grab a few things.”
“What? What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m staying with you. Your mom can deal with it.” I turn around to look down the road in the direction the men drove. They’ll be back. No fucking way they—or their boss—will make it this easy to shut them down. Next time they show themselves, I’ll be there. “I’m not leaving you alone now.”
Chapter 28
Allie
Mom will hate this. Letting a Bishop in on our personal situation. It doesn’t matter whether or not he’s her son. She’s always had a lot of pride when it comes to the way the world sees her. She wouldn’t want to admit she needs help, especially from a family like theirs. After all, this isn’t only Kade we’re talking about. All of his brothers were involved today, too. I owe them so much.
All I can do is hope they aren’t too much like Roman, because I can’t ever pay back this debt. He would hang it over my head. Will they? Kade texts when he’s getting close. That’s my signal to go down to Mom’s office, where she’s typing furiously on her keyboard. The sound fills the room. It’s like she’s punishing the keys because she can’t punish anyone else. She must feel like everything she put in place is slipping through her fingers.